DP meteorologist: Penn should 'cancel classes for tomorrow' because of 'treacherous travel conditions'

In the last 24 hours, we’ve seen rain and temperatures upwards of 60 degrees. Now, the possibility of six inches of snow or more is quite high.

My concern with this storm system is how fast or slow it is going to move past our area because its speed will determine how much snow Penn would receive.

It now looks as though the storm will slow down just enough to dump at least six inches of snow. As a result, Philadelphia is under a Winter Storm Warning for four to seven inches of snow combined with 15-20 miles per hour winds and near zero visibility for some time on Thursday morning. The storm will likely start off as a brief period of rain or a wintry mix late Wednesday night before transitioning to a period of very heavy snow from the pre-dawn hours through late morning on Thursday.

It is my belief that the combination of very heavy snow for one to two hours, combined with treacherous travel conditions will be extremely disruptive to the morning rush. As a result, I genuinely believe that it would be in the best interest of the University, the faculty and the students to cancel classes for tomorrow. It will simply not be safe enough to get from Point A to Point B in a timely fashion.